


How Steve Became Friends With The Kids

by AshWinterGray



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Based Off Season 3 Trailer, F/M, Friendship, I loved the trailer, Season 3, Steve needs friends, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 20:31:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18239861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshWinterGray/pseuds/AshWinterGray
Summary: It probably started when Dustin had dragged Steve along to deal with D'art. But, then again, that had been because the world ended. No, Steve like to think that it had started in the aftermath when Dustin wouldn't leave him alone. Not that he minded much. It beat being alone.





	How Steve Became Friends With The Kids

**Author's Note:**

> I loved the trailer. My boy Steve getting beat up again! Poor Steve! Why must this happen! and why is there a needle in his neck? I am not okay with this! I based this on information given in the trailer and set pictures. (Which wasn't a lot).
> 
> This is the first thing I have been able to write in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!

\----------------- Dustin --------------

            It started with Dustin. Well, technically it started when Dustin first asked Steve for help against D’art and Steve ended up with four kids in a tunnel after his face got bashed in. But Steve didn’t expect it to take off from there. He had spent the night he got back mentally preparing himself for a life with loneliness. Hopper had personally made sure Steve would get some rest and miss school after his concussion.

            And he certainly did not expect Dustin to show up.

            “Alright,” Dustin pushed passed Steve and into the house. “I’ve got Ghostbusters, but we talk about that a lot, so I also got Star Wars. Some soup cans, because I can make soup and that is about it. Though I can make mac n’ cheese too. Oh, and I brought a few comics, though I don’t think you can read them with a concussion.”

            “What?” Steve questioned, watching the boy in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

            “Keeping you company,” Dustin stated like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Hopper said we have to keep the lights dim though, so I don’t know if you’ll actually be able to watch tv, but you can at least listen. And, hey, I even brought our _Lord Of the Rings_ books. Because it is an absolute crime that you have not read these yet. I can read them to you if the tv gets to be too much. But I’ll warn you, the first book is kind of slow up until we meet Tom Bombadil. So you might fall asleep a few times.”

            That day saw little Star Wars and a lot of naps as Dustin read to him. And Steve had to admit that Tom Bombadil was pretty awesome, much to Dustin’s amusement. But then Dustin had to go home, and Steve once more steeled himself for a day of loneliness. He certainly didn’t expect Dustin to come back.

            But then he did.

            “Hi, Steve!” Dustin greeted cheerfully. “I brought more stuff this time. We even made a card! I’m afraid El didn’t get to sign it because we haven’t been able to go see her yet. But she radioed Mike to say she would make you a card too. We tell her about you sometimes. And Max and El are getting along now too. Will thinks El was just jealous or something. Which makes sense. But here’s the card.”

            Will had clearly done the drawing. It was of Steve with his nailbat and sunglasses with “Best Babysitter” written at the top. Inside, there was a bunch of scribbles from each of the kids thanking him for helping them. It made his heart do something funny.

            “Did you sleep on the couch?” Dustin called back. “Steve, that isn’t good for you! Don’t you have a guest room downstairs or something?”

            Dustin kept coming back and reading to him. At some point, after an okay from his doctor, Steve started to watch Star Wars with Dustin too. He had to admit, the movies were pretty awesome. But he honestly couldn’t figure out why Dustin kept showing up.

            “Are your parents ever home?” Dustin asked one day, an odd look on his face.

            “No,” Steve shook his head. “Well, sometimes. But not for another couple weeks. And they’ll only stay the weekend.”

            Dustin got an odd smile on his face at that, grinning wildly before he went to make soup. Steve had eaten a lot of soup recently. The next day, he heard the knock, and was surprised to see not just Dustin, but six kids.

            “I told Hopper your parents weren’t home,” Dustin explained. “And we’ve been trying to get somewhere safe to have El over so we can show her D&D. So we figured here.”

            Steve just chuckled and let the group in. That was probably the start of their odd friendship. He wasn’t entirely sure. But it seemed like the start of their odd friendship. Even if Steve was five years older than them. It was nice to have the kids close. To have them as friends.

\---------------- Eleven ---------------

            Just because Dustin had gotten his friends to hang out with Steve too, it didn’t mean they were all friends. Steve understood that and kept himself close to Dustin when ever the kids were over. He also understood that it had to be a little weird to have a friend five years older than you. After all, all of Steve six “friends” were suddenly five years younger than him.

            But his reputation at school was already shot, so he didn’t really mind.

            “El?” Steve questioned, looking around for the others. “What’s wrong?”

            “She was, without a doubt, alone. Like, the very alone in public Hopper said wasn’t safe. But she was also in tears, so Steve quickly pulled her into the house. Checking her over, he deemed there was no injury and he let the girl cling to him as she sniffed.

            “You want to talk about it?” he asked as he began to rock her as Steve had seen Joyce do with Will.

            El shook her head. He wasn’t sure how long they stood there, but Steve was getting a little uncomfortable with their current position, and El was probably uncomfortable too. So he scooped her up and moved to the couch, letting her curl into him.

            “I’m a bad person,” El whispered.

            “Hey,” Steve said instantly, shifting them both once more so she would look at him. “You’re not a bad person. You’re not. Who told you you were a bad person?”

            “Hop and I got into a fight,” El whispered. “I hurt him. I’m a bad person.”

            “El,” Steve probed. “Look at me. You aren’t a bad person. Kids fight with their parents all the time. Sometimes we hurt each other. That doesn’t make us bad people, it just means we got angry for a bit. And if that is the case then you just need to apologize. Chances are, he’ll apologizes too. You both messed up, right? So you both need to apologize and forgive each other.”

            “Forgive?” El asked.

            “Yeah,” Steve smiled. “It means you accept that what happened did happen, but you aren’t going to let it hurt your relationship. Sometimes friends and family hurt each other. Sometimes there are fights. But what makes family so special is when we forgive and move on.”

            “But what if I don’t want to forgive?” El asked with a slight tremor to her voice.

            “Then you both must have really messed up,” Steve smiled, pocking her nose in an attempt to see her smile. It worked a little. “Sometimes you don’t always want to forgive someone right away. And that’s okay. But if you never forgive someone, then it will keep hurting you both.”

            El nodded, and Steve ran a hand through her ever growing hair. Max had apparently learned that El liked it when people played with her hair. It made her relax a bit as she leaned into the touch. It had grown a bit passed the curls at this point, and Steve attempted to tame her wild hair with his fingers. He wasn’t sure how long they sat there, but they were eventually disturbed.

            “Steve!” Dustin’s frantic shouts could be heard on the other side of the door. “Steve! Code Red! Code Red! Steve!”

            Steve sighed and turned towards El. “They’re probably looking for you.”

            El nodded seriously and followed Steve to the door.

            “Steve! Thank goodness!” Dustin was still a bit too loud. “Listen! El is- oh. Hi, El.”

            “Hi, Dustin,” El waved back.

            “Just radio your friends and come inside,” Steve sighed. “You’re lucky no one has called the cops yet with how loud you have been.”

            It didn’t take long for the others to show up, and El took Steve’s advice and apologized to Hopper, who hugged his little girl and apologized right back. Steve wasn’t sure how it happened, but they ended up ordering pizza and crashing in Steve’s living room to watch a movie. El had chosen Steve’s lap, letting his hand detangle her curls. She fell asleep at some point.

            “We can’t thank you enough,” Joyce whispered as the kids slept. “We were so worried about her.”

            “She said she hurt you,” Steve whispered to Hopper. “She thought she was a bad person.” Hopper looked physically pained at this. “I talked her down, though,” Steve stated, still running his hand through her curls. “Told her about apologies and forgiveness and family fights. She seemed to understand.”

            El trusted him after that. Why? Steve didn’t know, but she trusted him. Sometimes she would just show up at his door or window. Steve always let her in, always did his best to look after her. And if Hopper called whenever she wasn’t home, he would give a gruff goodbye once he knew she was safe.

            Steve had two official kids as his friends after that talk. Which was weird, but Steve didn’t question it.

\------------- Lucas --------------

            “I don’t think I thanked you.”

            Steve had to turn and look to see who was addressing him, and he was instantly puzzled. Standing in front of him was a fidgety Lucas Sinclair. And Steve could not think of why Lucas would need to thank him. His confusion must have shown because Lucas shifted his weight.

            “For stopping Billy,” Lucas elaborated. “For taking those hits for me. Thank you.”

            Oh.

            “No problem,” Steve ruffled Lucas’ hair. “I’d do it again. He causes you any problems and you let me know.”

            “Dustin said your concussion got better,” Lucas mumbled.

            Why would Lucas be remarking on his concussion? It had been a month since he recovered. Everyone knew that. So, why? Oh. Oh!

            “Lucas,” Steve crouched in front of the boy. “My concussion wasn’t you fault. What Billy did wasn’t your fault.”

            Lucas didn’t look convinced. “If I hadn’t tried to convince Max and drag her along, then none of this would have happened. If I had stayed away like she tried to warn me to do, then you wouldn’t have had that concussion.”

            “And if you hadn’t gotten Max involved, we’d have been to late to get to the tunnels,” Steve pointed out. “My car was still by the tracks. Everything worked out. Everyone came out alright. None of that was your fault.”

            Still, Lucas didn’t look convinced.

            “It’s,” Steve paused, trying to figure out what to say. “Look, we’re like a Party, from your Dungeons and Dragons game.” Here Lucas gave him an odd look. “Don’t give me that look. I’ve been paying attention. But that isn’t the point. The point is, we act like your weird Party thing. Each of us has a role, even Billy, though he isn’t in our Party. If he hadn’t shown up, we would have been late and El and Will might have died. If you hadn’t gotten Max, then there would be no Billy to leave his car for us to have used. Everyone has a role. And sometimes people get hurt, but we always help each other out, even when we fight over stupid things.”

            Lucas nodded, processing Steve’s words.

            “That’s actually a little scary,” Lucas finally said. “Cause if we are a Party, then we broke a sacred rule.”

            “Which rule is that?” Steve frowned, trying to remember what he could.

            “Don’t ever separate the Party,” Lucas stated. “Which would make sense why we could never figure anything out until we all get together.”

            And darn it, he was just making an analogy. He didn’t expect the kid to psycho analyze what he said. But the kid was right. The next D&D session, held at Steve’s house, Lucas made a point of pointing this out.

            “Stop,” Dustin stated. “No. Don’t say that. You’re basically saying we could have avoided all this running around if we had just talked earlier.”

            “But we could have,” Lucas stressed. “Like. Literally. If we just _talked_ it could have been over sooner.”

            “Can we just not talk about it, please,” Will begged.

            Steve wasn’t sure what about his talk with Lucas had shifted something, but Lucas was suddenly asking him for advice a lot. Which was weird, because even Dustin had realized Steve gave terrible advice. And now he had three kids as friends.

\---------------------- Max ---------------------

            “El, it’s okay to be jealous, but do you know why you are jealous?”

            Hopper loved the boys, he did, but he really wanted El to have a friend who was a girl. Max was right there too, but everyone seemed to notice that El was rather hostile towards Max. And because El was hostile, Mike was too. So, in a last ditch effort, Hopper had recruited Steve to get the two girls to hang out. Steve had no idea what he could possibly do, but he had come to a startling conclusion.

            “Saw her with Mike,” El huffed, shoving her Eggos away.

            And, wow, El shoved the _Eggos_ away. This was a very serious matter Steve had just waltzed into. He’d have to tread carefully.

            “And what were they doing?” Steve pressed, trying to get information.

            “She was on her skateboard,” El grit her teeth. “Showing off. To Mike.”

            Ah. Steve could work with that. “So, let me get this straight. You’re jealous because you saw Max showing off to Mike. Right?” El nodded curtly. “And you think she liked Mike?”

            Another curt nod, and El was slouching in her chair.

            “Well, how do you know she wasn’t just trying to make friends?” Steve questioned, watching El make eye contact with him. 

            “Make friends?” El asked hesitantly.

            “Yeah,” Steve nodded. “She’s new, from far away, and she has a mean step-brother. Plus, I don’t think her parents are around that often. She probably just wanted someone to hang out with. I don’t know if you noticed, but if one member of the Party doesn’t approve of someone, it cause a lot of fighting. Max probably saw this too. She was probably trying to impress Mike so she could be friends.”

            El seemed to be pondering this for a moment. Steve used this as an opportunity to push the Eggos in front of El again, adding a little bit of extra whip cream as encouragement. El knew not to tell Hopper. Obviously.

            “Besides,” Steve continued as El continued to think. “She likes Lucas. But if you and Mike don’t like Max, then it makes it harder for Lucas and Max to be together. The Party relies on each other, and Max just needs friends. And I saw that handshake you denied. I think she would like to be your friend too.”

            El thought about it before looking Steve in the eyes. “Okay.”

            That Friday, Max showed up to Steve’s for the usual D&D session. Only the boys weren’t there yet. Which was surprising as Billy got her there late.

            “Alright,” Steve clapped. “I’ve got some snacks set out. Some movies. A few cassettes set out. Have fun. I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

            Max had to frown as she watched Steve scamper away, a weird smile on his face. And then, El was in the doorway to the living room, fidgeting in front of Max. It made Max startle and tense a bit.

            “I want to try again,” El said, not quite meeting Max’s eye. “I have been mean, and rude, and jealous. I am sorry. Very sorry. And I want to try and be friends. Can we start over?”

            Max watched, not sure what to say, as El finally met her eye, approached her, and offered her hand.

            “Hi, Mad Max,” El offered, her voice a little shaky with nerves. “I’m Eleven, or El. And I’d like to be friends.”

            Max couldn’t help but smile. “I’m Max, and I’d really like that.”

            That night, the two found likes and dislikes they shared. They played around. Watched movies that weren’t just the ones the boys’ liked. And they even danced around a bit to music Max claimed was cool. It was the best girl’s night either girl had ever had.

            “I know you did something,” Max spoke to Steve later. “That’s why we met at your house.”

            “I may have said something,” Steve shrugged nonchalantly. “You owe me one, by the way. I figure the two of you would get along more if the boys weren’t there. And I had to come up with several excuses as to why the boys couldn’t mention the plan change to you.”

            “But what did you say?” Max asked, almost desperately. “What changed her mind?”

            “Oh,” Steve grinned. “Just cleared the air. She wasn’t fond of you showing off on your skateboard to Mike.”

            Something clicked for Max, and Steve left the red head with a pat on the shoulder as she let the pieces fall into place. It was the start of a good friendship. Well, actually, it was the start of two good friendships because Max suddenly liked to hang out with Steve sometimes.

            He had four kids as friends.

\----------------------- Mike ---------------------

            Of all the people Steve never thought he would be friends with, Mike Wheeler was on the top of his list. Of course, Billy Hargrove took the top spot, but Mike was definitely a close second or third. It just wasn’t something Steve expected to ever be a thing. Not after he dated and had to break up with Nancy.

            That didn’t mean he was just going to sit by and let two jerks bully the friend of his friends.

            “Come on frog face,” Steve heard, followed by a familiar gasp. “Not gonna do anything?”

            Rounding the corner to a well know ally-way, Steve took in the sight of Mike on the ground, enduring the hits of and kicks of two jerks. Steve could guess who these two were. Troy and James. Dustin had mentioned them a few times, and Steve had not liked what he heard mentioned.

            “He may not, but I certainly will,” Steve growled.

            Troy and James released startled cries as they were yanked back and put face to face with an angry Steve Harrington. Steve wasn’t king anymore, not in the slightest, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a reputation. The two idiots were off before Steve could say much else.

            “Hey, Wheeler,” Steve crouched by Mike’s side. “Come on, I need you to lay flat so I can make sure nothing is broken.”

            “Hurts,” Mike whispered.

            “I know,” Steve stated as he helped Mike uncurl as gently as possible. “I know. But you’ll be alright. Yeah. You’ll be alright.”

            Just bruising, much to Steve’s relief, but there was no way he could just leave Mike in the ally. Getting Mike to his car got them a few odd stares, but Steve managed, and he took Mike back to his house.

            “You get beat up a couple times, you learn to take care of the wounds,” Steve told Mike as he got cream for the bruises. “It’s going to hurt for a while, not going to lie.”

            Mike just sort of nodded, like he was resigned to this information as he let Steve rubbed the cream gently over the bruises. Steve knew this sort of bullying had been going on for a while, but he also knew the kids had each other to pick themselves back up. So being caught alone had Mike stuck in his own thoughts.

            “Hey,” Steve lifted Mike’s chin. “You’re alright. Okay? Whatever those jerks said isn’t true.”

            “But they were right,” Mike muttered, sniffing slightly. “I am weak. I can’t protect anyone.”

            “Hey, hey, no,” Steve stated as firmly as he could while still being gentle. “That isn’t true. You may not be physically strong, but Mike, how many of your plans have saved our lives. You’ve got the strongest mind and almost the strongest will-power I have ever seen.”

            “Almost?” Mike questioned.

            Steve grinned, kind of playfully. “I think we can both agree that Will has the strongest will-power in your group.”

            Mike sniffed and nodded at that with a fond smile. Of course, word had gotten out that Steve had been carrying Mike to his car, so Karen Wheeler showed up. She flipped out a bit at Steve until Mike calmed her down and explained. It was an interesting experience. Steve gave her the bruise cream.

            Mike didn’t seem to mind Steve after that. He hung out sometimes, but not as often as the other four. Steve still considered them friends.

\--------------------- Will ------------------

            Steve could not blame Will for not wanting to talk to him. He had, after all, bullied Jonathan most his life. So he gave the younger Byers’ his space. And Steve did his best to ignore the tenseness he felt whenever Will was nearby. The kid had been through enough, he didn’t want to be the cause of distress for the poor kid.

            “There,” Steve grunted as he put the cap back on. “All done. You really got to remember when to change your oil, man. Your car could have shut down or done something worse.”

            “I know,” Jonathan sighed. “It’s just been busy. You know?”

            Yeah. Steve did know. It wasn’t necessarily busy so much as that feeling having not gone away. They were al silently expecting the thing to just come back, or for a Demodog to spring back to life. It was agonizing.

            “Just be careful,” Steve sighed as he moved to put the empty oil can in his car. “With everything going on, I’d hate for the thing to kill us to be something from this dimension.”

            Again, Jonathan sighed, a nod added to that. Jonathan had mentioned his car had sounded funny on the way to school that morning, and Steve offered to have a look. He easily spotted the oil light on and went to grab the spare can he kept in his car.

            “Jonathan?”

            Steve and Jonathan turned to see Will watching them curiously, and Steve a little cautiously. Steve still couldn’t blame the kid.

            “Hey, buddy,” Jonathan grinned. “Steve was just making sure the car was alright.”

            Will turned his gaze to Steve, nodding a little hesitantly. Steve gave a smile, bid goodbye, and headed to his own car. He wasn’t going to make Will uncomfortable if he could help it. He’d done enough damage already to the Byers’ family.

            It was that following Friday when Will finally approached him.

            “So, you and Jonathan are friends?” he asked, eyeing Steve oddly.

            And Steve had to think about that. “Sort of?” he tried. “I mean, we don’t hate each other, and I wouldn’t necessarily call us acquittances. But we don’t just randomly hang out just because. So, perhaps allies. Maybe? I guess friends, but not friends.” Steve paused to take in Will’s face. “Yeah, that doesn’t make sense to me either. But it is what it is.”

            “But aren’t you mad he took Nancy?” Will pressed, suddenly watching Steve nervously.

            “I don’t know,” Steve shrugged, trying to lighten the mood. “Did Jonathan kidnap Nancy and force her to break up with me?”

            “No!” Will protested.

            “Then I don’t believe Jonathan “took” Nancy,” Steve hummed back, turning to look for a snack in a cabinet. The kids had eaten most of the food. Again. “Look, Nancy is her own person. She made her choice. And she’s happy. If Jonathan is what makes her happy then that is all I can ask for.”

            Will seemed to ponder this and Steve let him. Was he upset? Yes, he was. But not at Jonathan and Nancy. Not anymore. He was upset with himself for getting in their way because they deserved each other. He loved Nancy, and part of him always wood, but he had moved on.

            “Your brother’s a great guy,” Steve continued. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to realize that.”

            Will had relaxed at those words, and Steve was suddenly being hugged by Will. It took him a moment, but he hugged Will back, a laugh on his lips as he did so.

            He had six kids as friends after that. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind about that.

\--------------------- Steve ----------------

            “It would just be for the month of June,” Steve was telling Dustin. “And you know your friends will be waiting for you when you get back.”

            “Yeah,” Dustin nodded. “But won’t you get bored?”

            Steve chuckled. “No,” he grinned at Dustin’s put out look. “I’ll be too busy complaining about my new job.”

            Dustin’s head whipped up in surprise.

            “You got a job?” Dustin questioned as if that was the most absurd thing in the world.

            “Yep,” Steve popped the word in his mouth. “Don’t be so surprised. I’ve got to make a living some how.”

            He’d gotten into another fight with his father about college. He wanted to at least take a gap year, but that was still up for debate. He’d already chosen a college anyways. And if he turned down the college, Steve was pretty sure his father was going to make him work for him. Steve shivered at the thought.

            “Here.”

            Steve whipped his head towards Dustin, cutting off his thoughts. In Dustin’s hands was his old hat. And Steve stared at it in surprise.

            “So you remember me,” Dustin insisted.

            Of course, Steve pulled Dustin into a hug. “I could never forget you, you idiot. You’re my friend. Who else am I going to do the secret hand-shake with?”

            And, yeah, they had some nerdy hand-shake they did. But Steve couldn’t care. These kids were his friends, and he was glad to have them as his friends. No matter what anyone said.

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah, that trailer man. There are way to many theories going around and I have a headache. I have watched the trailer at least twelve times, but I stopped counting. Meh. 
> 
> Comment your thoughts and theories!!!!!
> 
> P.S. I don't think Dustin or Steve will be the ones to die. Been doing some digging and I think I know who is set to die, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Especially if I am wrong. But let's face it guys, the Duffer Brother's are masters of giving us a trailer that has us hooked while still making it so we get the bare minimum detail. They did the same thing with Season 2. Since we know Dustin and Steve are with Erica and Robin, the Duffer's weren't just going to give us a lot of content with the two of them because they know fans will ask these questions.
> 
> So breathe and comment your theories.


End file.
